Strengthen privacy

Published: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 at 08:00 AM.

Indeed, the state must address the issue — currently percolating nationally with reports the National Security Agency compiles a database of virtually every American’s phone records — of probable cause. The vast majority of names on E-FORCSE are people with valid prescriptions. They are not under suspicion for violating the law. Yet their private information is centralized and subject to improper access or use. The state asks Floridians to trust it that it won’t release this information and that it won’t be used, overtly or covertly, against the innocent.

Then the Volusia breach occurs, and that trust is damaged.

The Florida American Civil Liberties Union has filed a public records request on the drug database usage, and on Saturday it asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate. The ACLU argues that law enforcement officials are given too much freedom when seeking records; for instance, officials can conduct a search using partial names or a name that sounds like the subject’s name.

The state should be cooperative and transparent in vetting E-FORCSE, and it should be ruthless in constricting access to it. Privacy rights must take precedence over prosecutions.

It’s good to see Florida officials take seriously a breach in the confidentiality of the state’s prescription drug database. But will their solutions be serious enough to fix the problem?

Since 2011 the state has used the Electronic Florida On-Line Registry of Controlled Substances Evaluation (E-FORCSE) to compile a database on patients who receive, and doctors who prescribe, prescription narcotics. Law enforcement agencies access it to combat prescription painkiller abuse, doctor shopping and criminal drug trafficking.

Recently, it was revealed that the confidential information of 3,300 prescription drug patients in Volusia County — including their drug history, doses, pharmacies and home addresses — was inadvertently given to prosecutors and defense attorneys in a criminal case, even though only six people on the list are suspects. That is a breach of protocol and violation of privacy for thousands of innocent residents.

The Department of Health last week said it will work with law enforcement officials and Attorney General Pam Bondi to improve safeguards, including limiting the number of people from state agencies allowed to use the database, creating a system requiring all agency administrators be notified when a user requests database information and potentially disqualifying users who compromise patient information.

State officials said they also want more clearly displayed penalties for improper disclosure on the program’s web-based disclosure screens. Currently a willfully improper disclosure of the data is a third-degree felony.

State Attorney C.J. Larizza, whose office disseminated the 3,300 names on computer disks given to defense attorneys, said “there is sparse, if any, legal precedent providing guidance on what limitations should be placed on the release of discovery materials to the defense under these circumstances. Essentially, the court must balance the privacy rights of the citizens against the due process rights of the defendants.”

Surely his office could have redacted the names of everyone not involved in the drug trafficking investigation.

Indeed, the state must address the issue — currently percolating nationally with reports the National Security Agency compiles a database of virtually every American’s phone records — of probable cause. The vast majority of names on E-FORCSE are people with valid prescriptions. They are not under suspicion for violating the law. Yet their private information is centralized and subject to improper access or use. The state asks Floridians to trust it that it won’t release this information and that it won’t be used, overtly or covertly, against the innocent.

Then the Volusia breach occurs, and that trust is damaged.

The Florida American Civil Liberties Union has filed a public records request on the drug database usage, and on Saturday it asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate. The ACLU argues that law enforcement officials are given too much freedom when seeking records; for instance, officials can conduct a search using partial names or a name that sounds like the subject’s name.

The state should be cooperative and transparent in vetting E-FORCSE, and it should be ruthless in constricting access to it. Privacy rights must take precedence over prosecutions.

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